Hunting for the mobile music deal

If the carriers aren't providing customers the mobile music they want, then customers will go elsewhere to find it, right? Well, that might not always be the case considering the walled gardens that most operators have in the U.S., but today mBlox announced a new mobile music store that may provide customers with an alternative.

mBlox has partnered with a company called New Visions to deliver what it claims is the industry's first off-deck music portal for mobile phones. They're focusing on smaller record labels like Virgin's V2 and Ministry of Sound and delivering music directly to the handset using the wireless network connection to bypass the carrier's music portal and overly complex pricing schemes. Sounds sneaky, doesn't it? It's quite as sinister as it sounds.

mBlox isn't taking on the entire global carrier community just yet--it might stand to lose a few high-dollar customers if it did. But it is looking to work with Vodafone and other European operators to provide off-portal services that the operators still collect revenue on. Unlike in the U.S., off-portal content is big business for the Euro-crowd--an estimated 80% of data revenues come through third-party providers. So mBlox is providing another conduit for revenues to Vodafone off of content it might not be inclined to carry or promote heavily.

But the platform does raise a few interesting questions about what the future sources of high-dollar content might be. Portal service providers and content distributors could just as easily partner with a Napster or an iTunes Music Store as they could with a Vodafone or a Verizon Wireless, creating huge brands for mobile music floating in the wired Internet, not tethered to any carrier's own music business. Carriers may choose to partner with content distributors, but they are just as likely to fight them off. In place like the U.S. where there is little awareness of content outside the carrier portal, carriers have a huge advantage if they choose to remain insular. But then again, the proponents of online music have a way of finding their way to 'unsanctioned' sources of music. If there is a cheaper, better source of music out there--and carriers can't seal their gardens off from the source completely--you can bet they'll find it.

E-mail me at KFitchard@prismb2b.com.